Utility crawler track rollers experience significantly high rates of failure. One of the reasons for these failures is believed to be attributable to the internal thrust bushing experiencing non-uniform loading resulting in the bushing overheating with this heat being transferred to the adjacent metal face seal provided between an end of the roller and a mounting bracket for the support shaft end, which, over time results in the metal face seal melting and the eventual failing of the roller.
Although a more a more robust roller assembly could be used to overcome these face seal and roller failures, this would prove to be cost prohibitive in this highly cost competitive size of crawlers.
Accordingly, the problem to be solved is that of providing a track roller assembly for utility crawlers which is durable and cost competitive.